4 months. A full third of a year. That’s how long it’s been since I last cooked meat in my kitchen. Yes, I can hear the vegetarians cheering in victory and the carnivores groaning in agony. But after my vegan challenge ended in early July, there was still something appealing about not worrying if raw meat juices oozed all over my countertops or if pesky little bacteria infected my sponges.
Then again, when I realized I had a frozen chicken breast in the freezer with more ice on it than meat, it was time to face my fears and thaw him out. But how to cook him?
Wracking my brain, I strained to remember methods of preparing the bird. Bake or broil? Marinade or dry rub? Whole or cut in strips? After hours of debating—okay, maybe just a few minutes—I settled on a simple drizzle of olive oil with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. And into the 350° oven (only chosen because it’s a baker’s favorite temperature!) he went.
Well that baby took a little longer than I expected, probably because my paranoia set in and I constantly opened up the oven door to check I wasn’t turning him into charcoal. Once the skin turned a little golden, I couldn’t wait any longer—what if he was drier than a desert on the inside?—and yanked him out.
But when I cut him open and carved out a bite, I nearly ate the whole thing. Surprisingly moist and tender, especially for how long he was frozen (I’m too embarrassed to say!). Yet I did manage to save a few bites to make a deliciously tangy chicken salad.
Mayo-less Chicken Salad
serves 3-4 as a side, or 2 as a main dish
Moist chicken is key. It should be so tender that as you slice it, it’s impossible not to eat every other bite! Embellish with your favorite herbs.
2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp dried onion flakes
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 large, cooked chicken breast
½ c. red seedless grapes
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
- Combine yogurt, mustard, onion, and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and put in a medium bowl. Quarter the grapes, and add them and the walnuts to the chicken. Pour yogurt mixture on top, and mix well to coat.
Hi Amy – thanks for making cooking so fun and especially entertaining through your stories! I am absolutely addicted to your blog! I made this chicken salad last night and it was delicious. I also brought some leftovers to the office today too 🙂
Aww thank you Camellia, you’re so sweet! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the chicken salad, and I bet my mom was somewhat surprised to see the leftovers at work today! It’s been so long since I last made this, so I’m glad you reminded me I have this recipe in my repertoire. I need to make it again soon!
Amy, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing your delicious recipes. I made this for lunch today and my husband and I were blown away by the tremendous flavor, and love your healthy ingredients. I should say that over the last few days I have also made your lemon poppyseed scones, two variations of overnight oats and your philly cheesesteak flatbread and each was as incredible as the one before it. Your blog is my new favorite stop for recipes! Can’t wait to try more!
Oh my goodness Lauri, I’m SO touched!! I’m amazed that you’ve tried (and loved!) so many of my recipes already. Thank you for sharing everything you’ve made!! 🙂 I’m really glad you’re enjoying everything, and I can’t wait to hear what you try next!
Hey, Amy! I’m loving your blog… what a one spot stop for delicious recipes I won’t be ashamed to record the calories of! I noticed some recipes have the nutritional information while others don’t (such as this one); why is that? I would be so happy to see more of them, so I don’t have to tether together my best guess on the others. But thanks so much for all the effort you put into this… I am so excited to try your 12 calorie a cup lemonade for a nice thirst quenching alternative drink to water!
I really appreciate your sweet words about my recipes McKenzie! That means a lot to me. 🙂 I started including the nutrition information for all of my recipes during the spring of 2013, so most of my recipes published prior to that don’t have it. (It takes a lot of time to go back and calculate it for all of those older recipes, and I’d much rather focus my time on creating new recipes for you to try! 😉 ) However, this is the nutrition calculator that I use, if you’d like to calculate it yourself for those recipes that don’t have it. I can’t wait to hear what you think of my lemonade recipe!